20 TREATISE ON HORSE-SHOEING. 



It is a bad plan to try to fit the whole of the 

 shoe at once; it is much better and saves a 

 great deal of trouble to fit the toe first, then the 

 quarters, and lastly the heels: but, before you 

 begin to fit the toe, take a look at the old shoe, 

 and see how much of the toe of it is w^orn away, 

 because just so much of the new shoe should be 

 turned up away from the ground out of the line 

 of wear. 



We all know that horses go better and stumble 

 less in old shoes than they do in new ones; and 

 the reason why they do so is because they have 

 worn away the toe, and no longer jar the foot by 

 striking the toe against hard substances in the 

 road. A new shoe turned up at the toe is the 

 same thing to the horse as an old one worn 

 down, but with this great difference to his comfort : — 

 that he is easy upon the new one from the time 

 it is first put on, whereas he was never easy upon 

 the old one until he had worn the toe away. 



When a horse wears his shoe hard at the toe, 

 it is the custom of most smiths to weld a lump 



